WELCOME!
Hi! My name is Sloan Fust and I am passionate about seeing and helping parents lead their children to know and follow Jesus.
A little back-story:
I was born and raised in the backwoods of Georgia down a dead-end dirt road and it’s still one of my favorite places in the whole world to be. My greatest dream growing up was to be a wife and mother. By God’s grace, I now have the privilege and joy of filling both of those roles.
My Salvation and Ministry Calling:
My life changed forever as an 8-year-old little girl. Jesus saved me! I remember the joy of that experience and the days, months, and years that followed like yesterday. The Lord gave me wonderful parents, pastors, and friends who led me to know Him at such a young age. My awareness of God‘s plan for my life started in that moment. I knew the joy of knowing Him as a child. That experience has fueled my passion for seeing children reached with the Gospel.
My love for Jesus and children grew through my teenage years. After a few mission trips and conversations with my parents and pastors, I knew the Lord was calling me to pursue ministry as a career. Therefore, I (reluctantly) applied for college in March of my senior year and graduated from Brewton Parker College in 2006 with a BA in Christian Studies. After a 6-month break from school, I uprooted my life from small-town Georgia to big-city Louisville, KY and started school at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In three years, I graduated with a Master of Arts in Christian Education with emphasis in Children’s Ministry.
A lot of life happened in those three years. I made life-long friends, learned from some of the most amazing Bible-teaching professors, and met and married my husband, Patrick Fust. Serving alongside one of my best friends, I interned at Highview Baptist Church during the last year of my studies. After that season, I was hired into her role as Kids Ministry Director at the East Campus location when she left to stay at home with her new baby. I served overseeing birth – 5th grade Kids Ministry for 5 years. These were some of the best and hardest years of my life.
This role was my dream job.
I couldn’t believe the Lord gave me the opportunity to lead in this capacity. I loved the kids, families, and relationships that were built in those years. However, shortly after the birth of my second child, I quit my job. I was burned out trying to balance my home and ministry, suffering with PPD, and had nothing more to give. It was an emotional decision. And in many ways, it was the death of a dream.
BUT GOD.
That season was filled with heartache but also many blessings. Quitting allowed me to come home and be with my children full-time—another dream I had always had. I spent the next year healing from PPD and bonding with my kids. In addition to that, our home went from busy and stressed to peaceful and calm. I learned to depend on my husband in new ways and our marriage grew tremendously during that time. Above all, God provided for our family and confirmed the difficult choice we made walking away from my full-time job again and again.
We thought that decision was a permanent one. I loved my time home with my children through those early years. They have since eased into their Elementary years and the Lord has led me back into children’s ministry at Highview. I often am reminded of Proverbs 16:9, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” I’m certainly thankful for His leading and sovereignty over directing the steps of my life–paths forward I could not see and so much purpose in the pain of the journey.
In conclusion…
It took the letting go of “my dream and plan” for God to plant a different vision and dream in my heart. Over the past five years, my passion for seeing children reached with the Gospel has only grown. However, what I’ve learned in a first-hand way through interactions with my own little ones is that the most effective discipleship happens in the home. It’s in the little moments of disciplining our children, playing and praying with them, helping them deal with disappointments, showing them the beauty of the world God created around them, and cultivating a language of faith deeply rooted in the Word of God within our homes. And that’s why I’m here. It’s your responsibility to lead your children to Jesus. But I can help encourage you in the journey, provide recommendations of excellent resources we use in our own home, and share stories of how we and other Christian couples implement discipleship at home. In conclusion, my prayer is that the Lord uses this blog for His glory—and that your family will be changed through taking small steps of obedience to faithfully open the Bible each day, hear from God, and watch Him work.
